Wellness Central

Employer Achievement in Wellness Programs

Since its inception in 2006, the employee wellness program has become a symbol of an emerging new culture in American businesses. At United General Hospital, the wellness program has become a source of real improvement, where participating employees eat better, show less stress and reduce their cholesterol levels.

Even United General's CEO, Greg Reed, is doing better.

"I may not have changed eating at my desk, but I'm more consistent with exercise in the evenings," Reed says. Since enrolling in the hospital's nutrition and exercise programs, he's knocked off 10 pounds and has kept them off.

Greg Reed not only helped launch United General Hospital's wellness program, he's also a beneficiary.

In 2004, United General, nestled in the foothills of the Cascades in the small Skagit County town of Sedro-Woolley, severed its relationship with the larger Skagit Valley Hospital in nearby Mount Vernon. Thus began a culture change, one that helped the hospital reconnect with its community.

"That was a big turning point for us," says Valerie Stafford, United General's director of communications. "When the two hospitals were affiliated, services here closed and were moved to the larger hospital. So when we went independent, we had to re-establish those services and an identity of our own."

Mark Pearson, director of United General's fitness center, got to work, conjuring up the Wellness 360 program that would strengthen employee health profiles. Programs included health coaching, on-site fitness, tobacco cessation, stress management, yoga classes and nutrition education. Pearson also started a weight-loss challenge akin to the popular TV show "The Biggest Loser." Competitors in 2007 lost a combined 300 pounds, and then did it again in 2008. In 2009, Pearson started "The Amazing Race" program, modeled after the TV show, which had employees going on six separate hikes for a combined 4,500 miles.

Pearson also enrolled United General in the Washington Health Foundation's Governor's Health Bowl, a six-week program that logs the miles employees hike, run or bike. Among the participating businesses throughout the state, United General won, with 186 employees (roughly 50 percent of the hospital's staff) logging a combined 50,659 miles. Then they won it in 2006 as well.

That zest for health is also visible to potential employees. When the hospital was looking for a new director in the emergency room, the preferred candidate was on the fence about taking the job. But learning about the "The Amazing Race" challenges and other components of Wellness 360 won her over.

Wellness 360 uses a comprehensive screening system for all participants. From each profile, United General can measure an employee's rate of success. Since 2006, employee nutrition has improved by 15 percent, cancer risk has been reduced by 5 percent, and stress management, safety, blood pressure and cholesterol have each improved by 5 percent.

Perhaps the greatest shift at United General has been cultural. "There is a spirit that we're a smaller hospital and that we have to pull together to make it work," Stafford explains. "A lot of people thought that when we ended the affiliation, we wouldn't survive and we took these jobs knowing [the hospital] might not survive financially. But we have."

Runners-Up:

Meier Architecture-Engineering, Kennewick Sometimes it's the little things that matter. That emphasis certainly has been the wellness philosophy at Meier, which during the past two years has e-mailed to employees a monthly good-health newsletter, added a freezer and microwave and done away with the candy machine in the company lunchroom, added a second bike rack, scheduled in-house massages and started a flag-football league that plays games every Wednesday night.

MultiCare Health System, Tacoma If you're in the business of health care, you'd better have a wellness program. And MultiCare certainly does. At the disposal of each of the 9,000 employees in the more than 90 MultiCare locations in the Puget Sound region are free courses in nutrition and cooking, organic fruit/vegetable delivery, two program coordinators, and yoga, Pilates and Zumba (dance) classes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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